A touring exhibition commemorating the centenary of the birth of Sir Basil Spence will open at the Omni Centre, Edinburgh on 13 October. The exhibition which celebrates the life and work of one of Britain’s greatest architects will run until 27 October and Edinburgh is the third city in its year-long, nationwide tour.

The exhibition opened to critical acclaim in Coventry in August before moving on to London. The touring exhibition in Edinburgh coincides with a major exhibition of Spence’s work opening at the National Galleries of Scotland on 19 October. In addition, a Big Draw event will take place at the Omni Centre on Wednesday 17 October 11:30-14:30, led by renowned Scottish artist Claire Barclay. The Big Draw Campaign invites participants to use drawing to engage with the past, present and future through architectural, scientific, archaeological or fine art drawing. This event will use Spence’s work as inspiration for children and families.

The 13 August 2007 was the centenary of the birth of Sir Basil Spence (1907-1976), one of Britain’s most successful architects of the last century. To mark the occasion the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), based in Edinburgh, recently launched the Sir Basil Spence Archive, the culmination of a major project over the last few years, involving a team of over 11 experts at RCAHMS, to preserve a unique archive of his work and personal documents.

Sir Basil Spence is one of the UK’s most celebrated twentieth-century architects. He is most famously associated with his radical designs for the new Coventry Cathedral following the partial destruction of the old Cathedral by bombing during World War II, a project for which he received a knighthood in 1960. Renowned for his attention to detail, he was involved in a varied range of high-profile architectural projects, including the University of Sussex; Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks, London; the British Embassy, Rome; and the extension of the New Zealand Parliament buildings.

In 2003, 40,000 items were gifted by the Spence family to RCAHMS, comprising drawings, files, photographs, models and documents charting his career, as well as a wealth of personal papers and letters. This unique archive was made available for the first time in August by RCAHMS, in partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and The Lighthouse, Scotland’s National Centre for Architecture, Design and the City.

The touring exhibition is a fascinating combination of content from the Spence Archive and material that is the result of a series of interpretation workshops. These were run throughout 2006 by RCAHMS and The Lighthouse at twelve venues across the country, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Coventry and London. As well as primary and secondary school pupils, community groups and those who had lived and worked in Spence buildings were asked about their engagement with his creations and the archive generally. Themes included past and present, housing and school design, and new design in historic places. Their responses resulted in digital art, film making, and sculpture all of which will be represented in the touring exhibition.

A unique website, http://www.basilspence.org.uk was also launched in August. Based on material from the Archive, it features the different areas of Spence’s work with sections dedicated to his designs including living, work, learning, worship and further sections on outreach, education and memory sharing. Also included are contemporary responses in which a range of artists, architects, designers and commentators share their thoughts on Spence’s work and achievements through writings, videos and podcasts.

In addition, a major exhibition of the Archive at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh opens on 19 October, showcasing some of the major aspects of the Archive. This fitting celebration of the centenary of Spence’s birth will be the first time that the National Galleries of Scotland has devoted an exhibition to the work of a single modern architect.

Rebecca Bailey, Head of Education and Outreach at RCAHMS said:

“This has been an important project for RCAHMS and we are delighted that the Spence Archive is now available to all. It has brought together, as Spence himself did, a number of diverse partnerships and groups. The website and touring exhibition allow an examination and celebration of the notions of architecture and design, bringing them into the public and popular domain, in the same way that Spence attempted with his works. As well, and justly so, Sir Basil Spence himself is revisited and reassessed in the centenary year of his birth.”